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SEMINAR I CHAPTERS 7-13 |
MOMIJI NO GA
"Secrecy is another of the effects of erotic transgression that serves the development of interiority." p. 39
Fujitsubo watching Genji's dance: "How much more splendid she would find him were it not for her frightfully inappropriate thoughts." S.132. p.40
Genji has a wonderful, ludicrous little affair with the aging Naishi, in this chapter. She represents one of the parodic versions of Genji's secret violation of Fujitsubo. p.49 Notice how she comes back in the Aoi chapter to invite Genji to get in her carriage.
HANA NO EN
Fujitsubo again witnesses Genji composing Chinese verse and dancing. While she is aware of Kokiden's hatred for Genji, she herself finds it impossible. Examine the reasons.
AOI
Rokujo's spirit appears once to Genji, even speaks a poem through Aoi's voice. S.168, F. 50. "Tidy my garments, make me respectable again, stop this gaping wound in my soul (make me not love you any more, but don't, I would still love and be loved by you), appeals the spirit of the Rokujo Lady." p.50 Does this seem a portrait of a 'bitch-goddess'? An evil woman?
Helpful in the analysis of the Rokujo Lady: "When Aoi's body houses Lady Rokujo's soul, when Lady Rokujo's soul inhabits Aoi's body, a new creature emerges far sweeter than either woman can comfortably be. The phenomenon of spirit possession is another form of juxtaposition, an instance of the continuous exploration of character formation. Aspects of one being can be combined with those of another to produce a new woman who embodies possibilities invisible in her sources" p. 51
On the soul leaving the body: consider the Rokujo Lady's "oscillating between Shinto and Buddhist poles." p. 54
" Of her {Rokujo's} nine exchanges with Genji, an immodest seven are begun by her."p.55
SAKAKI
The following meetings share a pattern: 'hiding in the closet.' Genji and Fujitsubo in Sakaki, Yugiri and Ochiba no miya (Second Princess) in Yugiri, and Kaoru and Oigimi in Agemaki.
Think about the wit of the closet, the necessity of the closet.
"There is a celebrated scene in which Genji comes calling at the temporary shrine {called Nonomiya-see a Noh play of the same name, also a modern opera by a Canadian composer} for a final leave-taking {of Rokujo and her daughter Akikonomu before they go off to Ise where Akikonomu is to become the head Priestess, Shinto by the way and the home of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, progenitress of the Japanese people} "In going to Ise, in becoming, in effect, the Priestess (for her image overshadows her daughter's),the Rokujo Lady compensates for, lives a negative version of the life she would have had as empress."p.56.
SUMA
"There are various kinds of seeing exemplified in Murasaki's poems." F. 185 Field translates poems on pp.182-85. (See poems on S.224,229, 233).For other examples of Murasaki's seeing eye, see S. 311 (Eawase), S. 386 (Otome), S.410 (Hatsune),S. 423 (Kochoo), S. 555 (Wakana Jo), S. 717 (Minori), all translated by Field on the above pages.
"....a boat bearing a life-size human figure to which all evils have been transferred is set afloat. What is included in those evils?"p.66 What indeed! Guess. Reminds me of the opening scene from Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960s),and a scene somewhere in Fellini's8 1/2 (also 1960s). Folk belief and superstition here provide a welcome relief to the other, more foreign, activities Genji finds to while away the time.
AKASHI
"Akashi must always yield to the capital." p. 71.While Genji begins to woo the Akashi lady, the story breaks off to recount various calamities afflicting Kyoto and the Kiritsubo Emperor.
{Akashi's} poem{s} are heavy with the timeless knowledge of young women and the particular sensibility of a Heian provincial governor's daughter that in a few moments life would be forever changed--a rather different perception of fate from the sort that has Genji and her father in its thrall." p.73.